The Children of Six
by The Master Planner
Summary: Austin Smith and May Parker, possibly the world's unlikeliest couple, want to turn their relationship into something more. Meanwhile, a scheming supervillainess is planning an assault on New York City, with the help of four powerful teenagers.
1. Prolouge: Archetype

It seems that due to stupendous lack of demand, I was forced to make my "Offspring of an Octopus" series, featuring the original character Austin Smith, into four stories. So, Austin and May Parker are back, trying to work on their relationship, and around a dissaproving spider-powered father. Noreen, the Girl Goblin, is back with a vengance, allied with enough bad guys to make even the greatest villian-lover's head spinning. So sit back, put your finger on the scrolling button, and enjoy! And whether you are old or new, read and review!

(p.s. while you're at it, check out Nature Versus Nurture as well.)

The Children of Six

Once upon a time, a superhero called Spider-man fought a group of supervillians called the Sinister Six. Now, scheming supervillianess Noreen Osborn, the Girl Goblin, has gathered the children of the Six to destroy the Spider-line once and for all. But one place at the group is still empty. That place once belonged to the leader of them all. Now, if Noreen has her way, that place will be occupied by his son…

Chapter 1: Prologue: Archetype

"Today we will start working on Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_," Professor Edmunds began to his English Literature 46 class. "Contrary to popular belief, Frankenstein is not the name of the monster, but of the scientist who created him. Now if you will please refer to the handout I gave you, you will see that…"

Austin Smith, from his seat in the back, had disengaged his mind. He only was in this class because his beloved cousin, Rachelle Laufey (who had recently transferred to Empire State University from UC Irvine) had put him up to it. She was a real literature and poetry buff—but science and math was more his thing. However, he realized the need to get good grades, so his tentacles were now peeking out from beneath his coat, auditory receptors at full power. They were downloading the lecture into his mind like an illegal MP3 file from Napster.

Professor Edmunds then asked, "Victor Frankenstein is a classic example of the so-called "mad scientist" archetype. Can anyone name any others?"

Austin leaned over to his beloved girlfriend, May Parker. "How about my father?" he muttered. May shared the private joke with her friend Felicity Hardy, and Rachelle, and all three sniggered. Because all four knew what the joke meant.

Austin Smith had been raised by his single mother and aunt. When he was fourteen, he had discovered, rather disagreeably, that his father happened to be none other than the infamous supervillian (and yes, mad scientist) Doctor Octopus. His father had found out about his son at around the same time, and kidnapped him. Austin, in an accident shortly thereafter, became fused to his father's duplicate set of "smart arms," or tentacles as everyone put it.

However, since God has a finely tuned sense of irony, Austin had later fallen in love with another science major, May Parker, who happened to be the daughter of Spider-man, the archenemy of Austin's father. She had also inherited her father's spider-powers. Unfortunately, Peter Parker, May's father and the now retired Spider-man, was not entirely reconciled to the idea of his daughter dating Doc Ock's son.

Austin's tentacles began to speak to him in his mind.

**_Father is _not_ a "mad scientist."_**

_Is too,_ he mentally grumbled at them. Their voices were always talking, even if they weren't speaking to him. It was a constant buzzing in his mind. However, for the overwhelming majority of the time, he could block out the voices when necessary.

The hour of his last class dragged by like a snail jogging through molasses. Finally, 6:00 pm arrived. He was free.

"Austin," May asked. "how about we go to my place for dinner tonight? Beats staying up at the dorms—or pulling a Saturday all-nighter in the science lab."

"There was an experiment I wanted to work on," stated Austin.

"God rested on the seventh day, Austin," she says. "What's good enough for God is good enough for the common mortal."

"Very true," Austin agreed.


	2. Meet the Parents

To daveykins, the one reviewer who bothered to show up: Hope you are.

Now, if you are new to me, I seriously advise you that you need to head over to my profile and read "The Octopus' Spawn" and "My Only Love and My Only Hate" before proceeding with this story. They are a series, you know. I'll be patient while you go and brush up on it. I'll wait right here.

Okay, now that you're back, on to the story! The now retired Spider-man, Peter Parker, meets his daughter's boyfriend in person. Will he like what he sees? Remember, whether you're old or new, read and review!

Chapter 2: Meet the Parents

The young couple stood on the doorstep of the Parker house.

_**Can we come out now?**_

_For the last time, no way. You are _not_ ruining this for me. _

_**We won't ruin it, come on, please?**_

_**We will be good.**_

_No way. _

**_We know—you're going to Spider-man's house, aren't you?_**

_He's not Spider-man anymore—but yes._

_**We're telling you, that girlfriend of yours is a bad influence. **_

_**A bad influence, we tell ya. **_

_**Why do you listen to her so much?**_

_**She'll just turn on you, just because of who we are.**_

"If she does, it'll be because of you. Now shut up and behave." Then he suddenly realized that he was talking out loud. His face reddened as he turned to May. "I'm sorry. I can't always help it."

"That's okay," May said. "I know. They talk to you, don't they? And they've taken over your mind."

"If they'd taken over, we wouldn't be here," Austin said darkly. "But they do share it to a certain extent. I can block them out most of the time, though."

He used his flesh and blood hand to ring the doorbell.

"Your father hates me," Austin said.

"He does _not_," contradicted May. "It's not your fault that your father's…"

"A maniacal, multi-tentacled, murderous mad scientist?" Austin finished.

"Yeah."

"Can you control them?"

"Of course I can. I'm not going to give your dad any reason to think I'm anything like my father."

Peter Parker, teacher and retired superhero, answered the door. He found himself looking up at a startlingly tall young man with messy brown hair, wearing a black trench coat and dark sunglasses.

"Austin, this is my father, Peter Parker," May said. "Dad, this is my boyfriend, Austin Smith."

Peter pasted a smile on his face as he rather stiffly shook hands with the younger guy. Mary Jane walked into the doorway to join her husband. Although she was past her modeling days, there was no mistaking where May got her great good looks.

"Austin, this is my mother, Mary Jane Watson Parker," May said. "Mom, this is Austin Smith."

Peter nudged his wife. "Looks like his father, doesn't he?"

Mary Jane's eyes widened, recalling a fleeting memory of a car crashing through a café window, of being carried bodily off by four metal tentacles…

MJ then returned to the bottom of the stairs, calling for her son. "Ben…we have a _guest_!"

Benjamin Parker II stumbled downstairs. A few days ago, he had returned from his tour of duty as a Marine in Iraq, for the most part unharmed. Like May, he had also inherited all of his famous father's powers, which came in mighty handy in a war zone, even though the Middle East desert was about as far away from skyscrapers as you could get.

Ben ran over to May. The brother and sister had always been especially close. He hugged his sister. "Hey! How's my little sister doing? And who's the secret agent with her?"

"Oh!" May said, shoving Austin up to him. "This is my boyfriend Austin Smith. And he's a biology major at my college, not a secret agent."

"Cool," said Ben. "So when do we meet _his_ folks?"

You could cut the silence with a knife.

"You wouldn't want to, Ben," Peter finally snapped. MJ nudged him in the ribs, but he failed to take the hint. "His father's Doctor Octopus."

"Wait a minute, let me place the name…" Ben thought. "Oh yeah…Doctor Octopus was, like, your arch nemesis back in the day, wasn't he? You told me about the time when he built himself a miniature sun and tried to blow up the city…" He waved his arms around. "Mad scientist dude with the gnarly metal tentacles, wasn't he? Real nutter, from what you tell me."

The tentacles began to hiss menacingly underneath his coat.

_You had better not do what I think you're planning to do._

_**Why do you let him slander Father that way?**_

_He's telling the truth, you know. You're computers. Try looking at him logically and objectively._

"The one and only," Peter said grimly.

"He's her boyfriend's dad!" Ben started to laugh. "This is the part where 'Austin' reveals himself to be Ashton Kutcher and says we've all been punk'd, right?" Ben looked around wildly for the hidden cameras. Finally he got it.

"Whoa…you're serious? No way!"

"Way!" Austin confirmed.

"No shit!" Ben exclaimed. "What's your mother like? I mean, she's gotta be pretty freaky to be doing it with a guy with four metal tentacles..."

"Dinner's ready!" MJ called.

"Well, _that_ went well," Austin muttered. "Wonder what they'd say if they actually saw the—"

"Of course they like you, Austin," said May. My brother's just trying to be funny. My family really likes you. They don't hold it against you."

"_Now_, anyway," grumbled Austin.


	3. The Unlikeliest Superhero

To the reviewers, whom I thank: 

To daveykins: Hope you are.

To moonjava and Teckla: Can't wait, eh? I'm just _killing_ you with suspense, heh heh.

To Agent Silver: Long time no see! Yes, computer failure sucks, I was almost driven mad when my local internet company shut down for two weeks and then I discovered the pile-up of email alerts and spam. _Anyway_, I really hope I won't have to wait for your input until spring break, because by that time Children of Six should be done, you know how fast I update, and I like your input. Yes, our girl goblin Noreen is going to be one of the New Sinister Six...but as for the others...(wicked supervillian grin) let's not ruin the surprise, shall we! You will be more pleased of the fact that a point you raised in "My Only Love and Only Hate" is answered in this chapter! Read on!

On to the story! With great power comes great responsibility...and with great superhero comic books come a whole bunch of fanfiction! Whether old or new, read and review!

Chapter 3: The Unlikeliest Superhero

Mary Jane asked Austin to talk to her privately.

"May tells me that you have the arms," she said. "Can you show me?"

Austin untied his coat, revealing the four huge steely blue tentacles, rather like skeletal snakes. Four three-clawed pincers opened to reveal the sharp blue lights that served as their eyes. "You're…not afraid?"

"I've had experience with them," she said evenly. "May also tells me that you can fully control them, even though your inhibitor chip was destroyed. That's remarkable willpower you've got there."

"It's hard sometimes," said Austin.

"Tell me how you got them."

Austin sensed somehow that Mary Jane could be trusted with this. So he told her.

"It's not your fault, Austin," she said finally.

Austin looked up at his girlfriend's mother. "It's not? _I'm_ the one who put them on, Mrs. Parker. I should have known better."

"So what do you want to do? Remove them?"

"No," Austin replied. "They won't let that happen. I just want to—you know—make a difference. Make up for all the harm my father's caused this city."

Mary Jane Parker rested her hand on her chin, thinking. Finally she got an idea.

"Austin…have you ever thought of becoming a _superhero_?"

"_What?_"

"You could help the city—and May. You could establish an identity separate from your father."

Austin blinked. "Could I pull that off?"

"Well, you've already got powers and a good heart—you just need a costume. If my husband could pull it off, so could you. I believe in you."

May walked into the basement, watching her mother at the sewing machine. She was sewing together pieces of shimmery green and silver fabric. Austin was sitting on the couch next to her, reading the newspaper.

May smiled. "I heard what you're trying to do, Mom. You're gonna turn my boyfriend into a superhero."

"Austin and I just agreed that you'd like a partner in crime-fighting, May." Mary Jane turned off the sewing machine. "Try this on, Austin."

Austin came out of the bathroom shortly, with the green tights on. "Does this make me look fat?" he quipped, to much laughter.

Mary Jane looked at her watch. "Peter should be home from work by now."

There was a click of the keys in the door, and a moment later, he was outside the door, looking at his daughter, wife, and the boyfriend.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Mom's going to turn Austin into a superhero," May grinned.

However, Peter had a rather different perspective on seeing his daughter's tentacled boyfriend in green tights. He burst into laughter.

"Austin…you know how much you look like your father?"

Austin's face turned red. He pushed past Peter and walked out the door to the bathroom. "I'm going to take these off."

"Whoa," said Peter. "Was it something I said?"

"Austin never had a relationship with his father. Frankly, he has nothing but contempt for him," MJ said quietly.

Peter blinked. "Why didn't Austin tell me he hated him so much?"

"Honey—you never _asked_."

Finally May and MJ came up with an idea Austin could tolerate. Peter, grudgingly coming to the conclusion that another superhero in the family was better than a potential supervillian, presented him with an old costume from the back of the closet. It was entirely red, except for a blue hoodie sweater with a red spider painted on the chest. Austin was sorely tempted to ask Peter where he got the costume from, but Peter only said, "It's a long story, Scarlet Spider. It involves a clone and your dad's ex-girlfriend." This was just enough information for Austin to decide he didn't _want_ to hear the story. Peter also began to teach Austin how to use the arms in a combat situation, even though he himself was only a secondhand source.

"This is it," said May, pulling on her mask.

"The big one," agreed Austin, pulling on his mask. "Is there going to be something?"

"This is New York City. There's always going to be something. There it is," May said, pointing. "A mugging."

"Thought there were going to be some big guys, some supervillians around," muttered Austin.

May laughed. "Don't be impatient. You have to eat the vegetables before you move on to the banana split. Follow me."

Before the mugger could say "eight arms," his gun was webbed right out his hand, and a tentacle was lifting him right up in the air.

Spider-girl examined the gun. "Dear, dear, don't you know there's an assault weapons ban in this city?"

"I know about you, Spider-girl," the mugger said. "But who the hell are _you_?" he addressed the fledgling hero in the long blue coat.

"Just the long arm of the law," Austin smirked. He tossed the criminal up to May, who promptly webbed him to the wall, where the police would most likely find him later.

"There you go," said May. "Your first capture."


	4. Third in the Goblin Line

I will be finishing up "Nature Versus Nurture" shortly, so I will have even more time to devote to Austin! So: On to the reviewers!

To Lady Kayoss: Hit the nail on the head, there.

To Agent Silver: Yes, it's best to avoid trouble when using school computers. Once I got busted by the high school librarian for browsing Spider-man sites. I weaseled my way out by telling him that I was doing an extra-credit biology project exploring the practical use and manufacture of Octopus tentacles in real life! Fortunately, he was a great movie and comic book buff himself, so he swallowed it! p-i-c-f? Ah, I get it! Partners in crime fighting!

To Lord of Shadows: Firstly, I do not know you, _ergo_, I do not know what the names of your friends are. Secondly, Smith is one of, if not the, most common surnames in the United States. Thirdly, I have been using Austin Smith as my original character for _three stories now_, even before you joined by the looks of your profile, and therefore I feel entitled to keep using him. Fourthly, I advise you to refrain from cussing in your reviews before I report you to whoever's in charge of this website.

On to the story! In this chapter, the identities of the members of the New Sinister Six are revealed! Read, and if you like what you read, review! And if you don't like what you read, review anyway and tell me why! Now get to it!

Chapter 4: Third in the Goblin Line

Noreen Osborn wore a skintight green and purple suit. In her arms, she cradled a goblin mask. She sat in front of the mirror, wondering when he would come.

Finally, the spirit of her long dead grandfather, Norman, appeared.

"How shall I defeat her?" she asked. "I have tried and tried. She keeps whipping my ass every time."

"_You're not trying hard enough."_

"Are too." Her voice was petulant.

"_Have you ever heard of the Sinister Six, Noreen?"_

"The six supervillians that once assembled to defeat Spider-man?"

"_You think correctly. Six of their children have inherited their fathers' powers. You are one of them. You must gather the other five. Together, the six of you will be an unstoppable force of evil, the likes of which New York City has never seen."_

"Who are they?"

"_You know them. Philomela Toomes. Alexei Thorne. Miranda Dillon. Flint Marko, Junior. Austin Octavius Smith."_

"Fat chance on Austin joining in." Noreen added rather ruefully.

"_But he is one of the Six."_

"Heard he's still joined at the hip with May Parker."

"_You have a lot to learn about being a villain, Noreen. And a _lot_ more to learn about being a Green Goblin. The Goblins _always_ get what they want. Always. No matter how they do it."_

"Austin would never ally with me."

"_He is stubborn—like his father. But his destiny is marked in his genes. You said it right that time. It's in his blood, and it's on his back. You let him get away the first time."_

"I couldn't fight both Spider-girl and Doctor Octopus. Not at the same time."

"_You ran away. You were a coward."_

"I've learned my lesson, Grandpa."

"_I very much hope so."_

Noreen was the type of person who was never satisfied with her lot in life. While certain _other_ pretty, young, rich heiresses were content to party, date, and circulate their sex tapes on the Internet, Noreen wanted something more than that. She craved action, excitement, and power.

She remembered how she found a way to get all three. Her cat had unexpectedly led her to the lair that her grandfather and father had used while they were the Green Goblins. Some people had skeletons in their closets; Noreen had purple gliders, green suits, and pumpkin bombs in hers.

She had drunk the Green Goblin formula, and collapsed on the floor. Noreen clenched her fists as she remembered the changes the stuff had effected on her body. She suddenly became superhumanly smarter, more cunning, more devious. She found she was stronger than ten grown men, and she found that when she injured herself, she healed within a few minutes, practically before her eyes.

She also remembered why she had taken that step, besides her own desires. It was to impress a boy.

Noreen remembered meeting that boy on the college steps. Austin Smith was breathtakingly handsome, with messy chestnut brown hair and _huge_ brown eyes. He always wore a large black trench coat and dark sunglasses that hid his eyes and the tortured soul within. His IQ was off the charts, and the first time she'd gone out as the Girl Goblin, she'd discovered his strength and power—and the skeletons that were hiding in _his_ family's closet.

And it only made her love him more.

She had the first claim to him. But the girl she had once called her best friend, who was like a sister to her, May Parker, gifted and cursed with powers of her own, had failed to take a hint. May had stolen from Noreen the only man she had ever loved—and ever would.

But Austin was going to come back to her.

Because a Goblin always gets what she wants. Always. No matter what.


	5. Electric Spark

Now, to the reviewers!

To Teckla: Yes, I really seem to have an affinity with bad puns.

To Agent Silver: Yes you did explain too soon, since the Ultimate Six novel is the one I have at home...

To Crys Skywalker: Happy reading, and make sure you also read "The Octopus' Spawn" and "My Only Love and My Only Hate". This one is the third in that series, you know.

Now, on to the story! Chapters 4-8 will explore the lives of the other members of the New Sinister Six. I have only a limited knowledge of comics, so if I make a mistake, let me know. And read and review!

Chapter 5: Electric Spark

Miranda Dillon thought she was just another New York City girl. She was rather tall and gangly, with shiny light red hair and piercing blue eyes. Her mother was dead, her father, Max, whom she knew nothing about, was in jail (_again_, damn it) and she kept bouncing from foster home to foster home. She was an exceptionally bright student, and for some odd reason, her nickname at school was Sparky. Nobody at the time knew just how true it was.

When she was seventeen, she quickly learned she was _anything_ but ordinary. She was going to her prom, and she was wearing a beautiful, shimmering green dress, trimmed in gold. Her date (she couldn't recall the name) was coming to pick her up. The guy came to her house to meet her foster parents, and he pinned a rose corsage to her dress. Everything went just fairy-tale fine, until Miranda's foster dad told her to hold hands with her date for pictures. Miranda didn't know why he bothered, especially since it was no secret she was not his real daughter, _that_ honor belonging to her foster sister, Diana.

Miranda held out her hand to hold her date's. She barely touched the guy's gold class ring when something startling, remarkable, _electric_ happened.

Bright arcs of electricity shot from Miranda's fingertips, aiming straight at her date. The date, mortally electrocuted, fell instantly, and hopefully painlessly. A second burst of electricity shot from her hands, frying her dad's camera into a molten mess.

The next thing Miranda remembered, she had collapsed on her date's roasted corpse, screaming, "_Oh my God_, what did I do, _what did I do?_ How did that happen!" She knew nothing of her biological father, and it was impossible to guess how without that information. Her "parents" were screaming at her, "You killed him! You _killed_ him!" and Miranda was screaming, "I don't even know how I did it!" They kicked her out of the house. The police found her and arrested her soon after, but Miranda still maintained she didn't even understand what or how it happened. The judge was lenient with her; she was a good girl, a first time offender, and a straight-A student. She got a year's probation.

Still, she never used her powers again after that. It was crammed into her subconscious.

She was now a freshman computer programming major at Empire State University, trying to fit in and still bearing the scars of her memories. It had come back again recently, had freaked her out when those _electric things_ had come out of her hands and fried her laptop. She'd had to work two jobs to buy a new one.

She never used her powers…until the knock on her dorm room door. She peered out the door and was greeted by a tall auburn-haired woman in a goblin mask and a skintight green suit.

"Hello, Sparky," she said.


	6. Mister Sandman Give Me a Dream

Over to the reviewers:

To Agent Silver: Right on, my friend. Octopuses, they don't exactly have a choice, but Goblins, yup, definitely evil!

To Lady Kayoss: Keep reading, you're going to meet another one.

To Moonjava: Very.

Chapter 6: Mr. Sandman, Give Me a Dream 

(song by Emmylou Harris)

Flint Marko, Junior, sat on the bed of his dorm room. Unable to sleep, he switched on his radio. It was on this oldies station and they were playing yet another corny love song.

_Mister Sandman, bring me a dream  
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen  
Give him two lips like roses and clover  
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over…_

Flint switched the radio off and turned his laptop on. In addition to his schoolwork as a pre-law major, he was desperately searching for his past. He very much needed to know about the man who had given him his name, but abandoned himand his mother before he was born. He never knew he was about to find out too much.

It had been happening more and more often. The first time he'd nearly freaked out of his skull. He'd been reaching for his double black espresso coffee on his desk and suddenly his arm dissolved into a mass of sand, which piled on his desk. Then suddenly, it reformed again, back to normal. Flint thought this was a hallucination from his tiredness, as he'd been pulling an all-nighter study session at the time.

But then whatever it was, it'd been happening more frequently, and a couple times when he was fully awake, especially during times of great stress. He kept telling himself to "pull yourself together," literally.

The last straw came when he was going on a date with an attractive blonde sorority girl. He reached out to shake her hand—and it fell apart in a pile of sand. She'd fainted. He'd freaked.

So now he had _three_ burning questions to answer.

Who was his biological father?

What the hell was wrong with him?

And could—God forbid—the answers to those two be connected?

Until this _really_ hot chick in a skintight green suit and auburn hair knocked on his dorm room door—and answered _both_ questions for him.

_Mister Sandman, someone to hold  
Would be so peachy before we're too old  
So please turn on your magic beam  
Mister Sandman, bring us  
Please, please, please  
Mister Sandman, bring us a dream…_


	7. The Vulture and the Nightingale

To Crys Skywalker: You feel bad for ole Flinty? Why?

Ahem, on to the story! Let's see, you know Doc Ock's son Austin from "The Octopus' Spawn," Spider-man's daughter May and Green Goblin's daughter Noreen from "My Only Love and My Only Hate," and I've introduced you to Electro's daughter Miranda and Sandman's son Flint Jr. already...how about the daughter of the high-flying, villainous Vulture? Let's read on, and review! Presenting...

Chapter 7: The Vulture and the Nightingale

Philomela was, according to Greek mythology, a princess who was turned into a nightingale by the gods.

Philomela Toomes wasn't a princess, but she was treated like one by her father, Adrian, as she was the child of his age. And, as Adrian always told her, she could sing like a nightingale. She thought he was a respectable man, an esteemed businessman. At least that was what he'd always told her.

But her father was dead.

And it was all her fault.

Philomela had come home from school early one day in her senior year of high school. On her way home, she picked up a copy of the _Daily Bugle_. She shuffled to her house, amusedly reading an article about the rampage of this supervillian called the Vulture, an old man who wore a bird suit with actual wings. She walked into the front door, paper in hand.

The first thing she saw was her beloved father climbing through the window—in a green bird suit.

"Daddy—what are you doing?" she had asked. "Are you—are you—this Vulture man?" She held up the paper.

"Why of course not, honey," he said. The lie had failed miserably. The father and daughter promptly began arguing. The fight ended when Philomela ran away from the house.

By the end of the evening, Philomela began to feel remorseful for treating her father like she did, and she decided to turn around for home and apologize as soon as she got there.

But she never did. When she returned to her house, she saw a SWAT team perched outside her house, and emergency medical personnel carrying a covered, dead body out of the house.

"Where's Daddy?" she'd frantically asked a police officer. "Please, where's my dad?"

The officer had told her that while she was out, her father, as the Vulture, had robbed a bank, killed a teller, hid his suit, and hotfooted it to his house. He'd engaged in a five-hour standoff with the police, who fatally shot him as soon as they saw him through the doorway. It was a mistake, they told her, and the officer who shot your father will be suspended with full pay pending a full investigation.

And then she'd found the Vulture suit hanging in the closet—green, with a white fluff around the neck and huge wings from the arms. A note fell from it that said, "This is all I have of value; I will give it to you, my daughter."

Philomela had kept it all these years, not even knowing how to use it or how it worked. All she knew that it was the only memory of her father she had. She now kept it in her dormitory closet, hiding it, trying to fit in as a pre-medical major at Empire State University.

At the insistent knocking at the door, Philomela got up and opened the door to find a tall woman in a bad Halloween costume and wavy auburn hair.

"Come with me and bring the bird suit—you know what I'm talking about," she simply said.


	8. Hollywood Hunter

To Crys Skywalker: Of course you like Austin better. You're supposed to like the hero better than the villian. That's why everyone thinks Ottophiles are weird.

On to the story! Read and review!

Chapter 8: Hollywood Hunter

Kraven the Hunter was no Steve Irwin.

On his reality TV show, he simply wasn't content to wrestle alligators and snakes. The super-powered big game hunter had declared the superhero Spider-man to be his next prey.

The hunt had ended in disaster for his career. Kraven became a full-fledged supervillian, consumed by an obsession with the arachnid superhero, and captured and impersonated him for a brief time—before killing himself.

But before that, the Hunter had had a love affair with an A-list Hollywood actress by the name of Jennifer Thorne. That affair had resulted in a baby boy, Alexei.

Alexei grew up rich and spoiled. He was a Hollywood brat in almost every way, almost except for his supernatural affinity with animals. Everyone almost thought he could actually communicate and control any animal he came in contact with, except nobody could actually do that, could they?

But Alexei did.

Jennifer Thorne, seeing that her son needed to be able to interact with other young people his age, sent him to live in New York City with his maternal grandparents. They enrolled him in the Academy, the elite private school. In sophomore year, at the advent of his puberty, was when more of Alexei's animalistic tendencies began to emerge.

Alexei soon learned that he was as fast as a cheetah and strong as a bull elephant. He was an excellent athlete, of course, but he was intelligent enough to know how to keep the full extent of his powers concealed—even from his mother and grandparents.

Once he asked his mother where he got his talents from. But his mother, fearing a tabloid scandal, simply replied that God had blessed him—and he was meant to do great things.

And soon enough, a darker side of Alexei began to emerge. He was constantly picking fights with other guys, especially over girls. One of his girlfriends, not knowing just how accurate she was, liked to joke that Alexei was constantly "in rut." And quite a few had been beaten so bad that they were sent to the hospital. Jennifer, however, always managed to use her influence to keep it quiet. "Sometimes he just can't control his own strength," she said.

He was now on Empire State University's football team, and on the veterinary medicine program. But his life would change forever when the auburn-haired woman in the green suit came to his dorm room—and offered him the chance to make a name for himself—and to distinguish himself as more than a Hollywood brat.


	9. The Powers are Tested

Well, enough with the introductions! Now that the New Sinister Six are gathered, with one exception, the exciting part starts! Hopefully, now my regular reviewers are going to come back! On to the story, and don't forget to read and review!

Remember: I don't own Spider-man, Mary Jane, or any of the Sinister Six. I just own all their kids! (maniacal supervillian laughter)

Chapter 9: The Powers are Tested

"_Ahem_," Noreen Osborn said. "This meeting of the New Sinister Six will now come to order."

That it didn't do for quite some time; the others were chatting and laughing, with the exception of Miranda, who was reading a book, and Flint, who was trying to undress Noreen with his eyes. Since he was the Sandman, and not Superman, this did not work very well.

Two days ago, Noreen had gathered these four to this place. She had told them that each of their fathers were some of the most powerful supervillians to set foot in New York City, and that Spider-man and his daughter, Spider-girl, was responsible for their death and/or imprisonment. She explained that they each had inherited incredible powers, and they were duty-bound to band together and avenge their families by destroying Spider-girl—and that because of their power, they were entitled to rule over "the little folk."

Noreen had talked a good talk, and invariably each of the ones she had approached had agreed to meet her here at this place. Except for one—he'd been totally unreachable.

"Wait…" volunteered Philomela Toomes. She was the only one of the group besides Noreen to have previous knowledge of her famous father's criminal past. Her father was the Vulture. "Why are we calling ourselves 'the Sinister Six' when there are only five of us? Why not…the Fearsome Five or something?"

"Wow, _real_ fearsome," Flint drawled. His father, as he had recently found out from Noreen, was the Sandman. "We've got a crazy chick in a bad Halloween costume, Sparky the electric girl, the birdie, and Doctor Doolittle over here."

"Watch your mouth," snarled Alexei Thorne. His father was Kraven.

"And we have Sand-face to round the group out," observed Miranda Dillon. Her father was Electro.

"Shut _up_, all of you," shouted Noreen, daughter and granddaughter of the Green Goblin. "Rest assured, there _will_ be Six."

"Who's the sixth guy?" wondered Alexei.

"His name is Austin Smith."

Flint burst into laughter. "Austin Smith? That science geek in my history class who dresses like a secret agent? Sure his IQ is off the charts and he's smarter than the whole college put together, but he doesn't have _powers_, not like we have…"

"Flint, you'd have to study to be an idiot," snapped Miranda. "He does so. I've seen them in my biology class."

"So what are they?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know, Sandbox."

"First order of business," shouted Noreen, getting testy. "Can anyone around here fully use and control their powers?"

Noreen looked around. "Didn't think so. Well, we're gonna have a _lot_ of work to do. Miranda, you're the first. Come here."

"No way," said Miranda. "I remember too well the last time I used—whatever it was."

"Stop whining," Noreen snapped. "You're going to have to learn how to use and control it. And," she said, a wicked smile lighting her face, "to _amplify_ it."

Miranda backed away. "What the hell are you planning to do to me!"

Noreen grabbed her glider. She hopped up on it, grabbed Miranda by the collar of her green sweatshirt, and began to drag her into the air.

Everyone else came running out after them.

Noreen, as the Girl Goblin, paused outside a chain link fence, still on the glider and still holding Miranda. She grinned as she read a sign stating that it was an electric fence that automatically shot two million volts into anyone foolish enough to touch it and see if the sign was true.

"Oh, no, please, _please_…," sputtered Miranda.

Girl Goblin hurled Miranda onto the fence. "Don't worry, you'll make it."

As the sign predicted, Miranda's body was loaded with two million volts once she hit the electric fence. She fell down onto the ground shortly after. Her clothes were burned to shreds.

Philomela was first on the scene. "Miranda—are you all right?"

Miranda sat up. Common sense dictated that she should have been dead. But somehow, being knocked into an electric fence didn't kill her. Somehow, she felt stronger than ever. And she was glowing all over with power.

"Of course," she said, grinning. "Never better." Miranda looked at her hands. Electric sparks were shooting from her fingertips.

"Now see," said Noreen, taking her mask off. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" She looked around. "Now, who's next? Philomela," she said, "Did you bring your father's suit like I told you to?"

Philomela replied in the affirmative. "It's hanging on the hook inside the door."

"Flint, go and get it. Philomela, come with me." Noreen hopped up on the glider, this time dragging Philomela and the suit to the top of a skyscraper.

"Now put on the suit."

Philomela looked at her father's bird suit. It was green, with two giant wings on the arms and a ruffle of white around the neck.

"I don't know how it works."

"_Put it on!_"

As soon as this was accomplished, Noreen promptly pushed Philomela off the side.

"Wait, what the hell!"

"Use the suit to _fly_, you moron," Noreen shouted. "Flap the _wings_, you twit."

Philomela started flapping. Soon she wasn't falling anymore. She was—_flying_!

"Woo hoo!" Philomela laughed. "I'm flying! Can you believe it? I'm _flying_!"

"That we can see, fool," snapped Noreen. "Now get down here."

"Two down, two to go," snapped Noreen. "Who's the next lucky contestant?"

"Hey, I'll do _anything_ for you, sweetheart," said Flint.

"All right," said Noreen. "Alexei, you're next."

Alexei stepped up. Noreen placed herself in front of him. "Now," she ordered, "hit me."

Alexei shook his head. "I don't hit girls."

"I'm not just _any_ girl! I am the Girl Goblin! Now, _hit_ me, you idiot!"

"No, I don't hit girls."

"Why…are you _chicken_?" Noreen raised her hand and bitch-slapped him upside the face.

This had exactly the effect Noreen wanted: something was _unleashed_ in Alexei, and with the absolute savagery of an animal, he pounced on Noreen. It took all of Noreen's enhanced strength to throw him off her.

"Now there's more like it," Noreen said. "Flint, get over here."

Noreen put Flint through his paces, making him solidify as hard as concrete, and then making him become loose as a cloud of dust. Then she made him become a sandstorm, nearly smothering the others until she ordered him to stop. Flint had a serious crush on her, and Noreen knew it. She also knew she wouldn't be caught _dead_ with him. But she enjoyed wrapping him around her little finger anyway.

"_You have done well in helping them realize their power. But the Six is still incomplete."_

"I will never be able to convince Austin to join us, Grandpa."

"_Try harder! The Smith boy could prove to be the most powerful of all. He has incredible strength combined with awesome intellect and iron willpower. He will be your most valuable asset."_

"He's not an _asset_, Grandpa. He's the man I love."

"_Love? That is a fatal weakness in the pursuit of power, Noreen. You don't need to love Austin, you need to use him. Complete the Six. Succeed where I could not."_


	10. Attack at the Curt Connors Dormitory

On to the (lone) reviewer:

To Lady Kayoss: Apology accepted. We already know that one, Noreen, has chosen to do the former, and one, Austin, has chosen to do the latter. But the other four...stay tuned.

On to the story...don't forget to read and review!

Chapter 10: Attack at the Curt Connors Dormitory

"Yo! Austin!" Rachelle Laufey ran to catch up with her beloved cousin. "Can I borrow your biology notes?"

"Sorry, can't help you there," said Austin. Pulling her close so nosy students wouldn't hear, he added, "You know all my notes are in the internal memory banks of my arms."

"Aw, no fun."

"It keeps little twerps like you from going through them when they should be studying."

"Come on. Please. I'll give you my English Literature notes," pleaded Rachelle.

"That won't work, the whole lecture is in the data banks, too."

"Damn it, Mom's threatened to take away my credit cards if I don't bring my GPA up. You've _got_ to make me a set of my own smart arms."

"I doubt you'd want them," Austin said darkly.

"Sure I do. I think being Lady Octopus would be _neat_."

"No. You don't even know what I go through with them every day. Do you think I _like_ to look like a freak? Do you think I want you to be treated like one?"

Rachelle looked up at him. Fortunately, despite acting tough, Austin had a very large soft spot for Rachelle, who was closer to him than even his own sister.

"But I'll download the biology notes. Just bring your laptop to my dorm room."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" Rachelle ran off.

It was nighttime as Rachelle shuffled back to the Curt Connors Dormitory, laptop in hand. It was almost midnight; unlike Austin and May, who had scholarships, Rachelle had to work part-time to pay for college. Austin had left his dorm unlocked. For a normal person, this would be extremely foolish. However, Rachelle reasoned, when Doctor Octopus is your dad and Spider-girl is your girlfriend, no one would dare rob your dorm room.

Rachelle turned the lights on. Austin was out. Rachelle took advantage of his absence by peeking in his small refrigerator and looking for some snacks.

"Don't ask _again_, Flint!" Noreen pounded her fist on the table. "The Sinister Six is yet incomplete!"

"So what do you plan on doing about it?" drawled Flint. "You're the brains of the operation."

"I have not been able to convince Austin by reason. We will have to use force to bring him in, and then convince him. Flint, you're going to bring Austin in; I will give you the location of his dormitory room."

"I'll bring him in if you'll go out on a date with me afterwards," said Flint.

"Fine. Just _go_. Miranda, in the _highly unlikely_ event Sandman fails, you are to retrieve him and bring him back. We're not going to do anything rash."

"Why is Sandbox doing this?" asked Miranda. "I can completely control my powers—and he can barely keep his grains together."

"He's been improving," snapped Girl Goblin. "Besides, unlike you, he'll do anything I tell him to, instead of mouthing off."

"Miranda's right," said Philomela. "Miranda is the most powerful of the group besides you, Noreen. If Austin is as powerful as you say, we need to send her in."

"I'm not going to use a cannonball to swat a fly, Philomela," said Noreen. "Austin will be asleep and completely off his guard at this time. Flint is hauling him in and the rest of us are saving our powers until the time is right." Noreen sat back in her chair, thinking of an excuse to blow off the date.

Rachelle peered into the refrigerator, which was filled with beakers of strange liquids as well as snacks. "Damn, how can Austin _eat_ this stuff when it's been next to that stuff?"

Finally, she found a relatively uncontaminated package of Oreos. She started munching on them, setting her laptop on his desk.

A shadow advanced on the doorway.

"Okay, Austin, I'm sorry I ate your Oreos…"

Then she turned around. Whoever the hell the guy was, he wasn't her cousin.

"Perhaps _you_ can tell me where Austin is, little girl," Flint smirked.

"Well, who the hell are you?" Rachelle asked.

"I'm the Sandman," he said.

"What are you gonna do, put me to sleep?" Rachelle replied.

"That's it!" Flint swung at her. Rachelle ducked.

"Are you gonna come out and play, little girl?"

"Nah," said Rachelle. "I forgot to bring my pail and shovel!"

_I knew it. I knew it. I knew I should have stayed in California. New York City's a magnet for crazy super powered types,_ Rachelle thought.

"How about a hammer then?" Flint's arm turned into a hammer, and stretched out, knocking Rachelle flat.

"Where's your smart mouth now, little girl?" Flint grinned.

Rachelle looked around wildly. Magni, the athlete of the family, was also transferred to ESU. Her baseball bat…was under the bed. Rachelle took it…and swung!

"Holy shit!" Rachelle exclaimed. "It went right through him!"

"That's right," Flint mocked. "How smart are you, trying to hit a big pile of sand with a baseball bat? Now I'll get solid again and hit you…like _this_!"

Rachelle ducked again. Then she got an idea. She grabbed the giant Shop-Vac Austin had recently borrowed from the science professor.

"Do you think a little girl like you with no powers is gonna stop me?" mocked Flint.

"Uh, no," said Rachelle. "But her _vacuum_ will!" She kicked the vacuum. It roared to life.

"What the f—!" Of course, Flint, like his father, being basically a big pile of sand, was promptly sucked up into the vacuum. Rachelle looked over the room, making sure every grain was sucked up.

"Whew," Rachelle said, leaning against the wall. "I always wanted to do something big and clean up!"

Then she paused. There was probably more crazies where he came from. Rachelle decided to get the hell out of the dorm room and let Austin deal with them.

"He should have been here with Austin by now!" Noreen snarled. "Fine. Miranda, you go out there and fetch the both of them. _I'm_ taking a bubble bath."

Noreen stomped down the hall. "I'm surrounded by idiots," she muttered.

Miranda went over to her closet. She took out the special insulating costume Noreen had made for her. Miranda frowned. The costume looked exactly like her father's, complete with the lightning bolt mask. The whole thing was ugly as hell. But it was the only thing she could wear when up to full power, so she put it on.

She got to the Curt Connors dormitory within a couple of minutes, traveling along the electrical wiring. The dormitory of the target, Austin Smith, was empty. The only thing unusual was that there was a big Shop-Vac in the middle of the room.

"Flint?" Miranda looked into the room. "Flint? Where are you, you moron? It's been two hours and Noreen's getting pissed off."

Then she turned around. There was a peculiar knocking sound inside the vacuum.

"I'm in _here_, Miranda," the vacuum said.


	11. Meet the New Boss Same as the Old Boss

On to the reviewers! (where is everyone?) 

To daveykins, Moonjava, and Llarian: Yes, I am a bit proud of that trick...You've got to admit that Rachelle has a lot of guts, taking on a villain as powerful as that with no superpowers herself!

Ahem, on to the story! And whether old or new, read or review!

Chapter 11: Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

"Rob the bank!" yelped Alexei. "What for?"

"Because, fool, it will serve two vital purposes," snapped Noreen. "First, we'll get the money we need for our plans; and second, Spider-girl will most likely show up, and we'll get the chance to—" Noreen wickedly grinned. "—practice our powers on her."

Noreen held up a piece of paper. "These are our plans."

It was Saturday. There were no classes, and Austin was sitting with May in her dorm room. May was fiddling with a police scanner.

"You've been playing with that thing a lot since last Tuesday," Austin remarked.

"Well, how else am I going to know where Spider-girl and Scarlet Spider are needed?"

May paused. "There's a bank robbery downtown Manhattan."

"I'll grab my tights," said Austin as May took her civilian clothes off to reveal her Spider-girl tights.

"You're not coming," May said. "You're staying here."

Austin cocked his head. May was avoiding his eyes.

_**She's hiding something from you, Brother.**_

_Maybe for good reason._

_**I'm telling you, that girl of yours—**_

_**She's a bad influence.**_

"May—what are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing, Austin," May said.

"What are you hiding?"

"Fine. Rachelle came to me last night."

Rachelle had indeed told May about her encounter in the dorm room. Rachelle knew from Austin who May was. However, Rachelle was good at keeping secrets—wild horses couldn't drag her knowledge out of her. That was why Austin had told Rachelle in the first place.

"So, Mister Sandman stretched out his arm and knocked me flat—and then I saw this big vacuum cleaner next to the refrigerator—and I'm praying to God, Yahweh, Allah, and all the gods I can think of—and then I get this idea. I mean, he's a big pile of sand, what if I suck him up with the vacuum? So I grab the vacuum and he's about to strike the fatal blow when…"

"You turn the vacuum on and suck him all up?" May had asked.

"Right, how'd you guess. So anyway, I run out of Austin's dorm, but then I stop outside the doorway to see if there are any more nutters coming in there. And I'm right, 'cause then this thing popped right out of the electrical outlet or something."

"This thing, what did it look like?"

"Well, actually, it was a girl—I think. She had green and yellow tights on, and she was like, I don't know, _glowing_ white hot, and crackling with electrical energy, I could feel it in the air. She came over to the vacuum, and dumped it on the floor. And then the pile of sand became a guy again, and they talked awhile, and then they left."

"Did you hear what they were talking about?"

Rachelle had shrugged. "Not much, but I think I caught the girl saying that Noreen would get really pissed off if they were late and the guy was complaining that Noreen wouldn't date him anyway."

"Noreen? That's the one they were talking about?"

"Yeah, I think the name was Noreen."

"I talked with Rachelle. Your cousin. Seems that she went into _your_ dorm to get something, and a supervillian attacked her."

"Girl Goblin?" Austin croaked.

"No, but Rachelle told me that Noreen could be behind it."

"She's probably after me again."

"Yes, that's what I thought too. It took both me and your father to subdue her that time—"

"_What?_ My father?"

"He's the one who told me that Noreen kidnapped you. He insisted on coming with me to rescue you. I think he does care about you, underneath all the tough talk and ten—"

"Do you understand? I never even knew who he was until I was _fourteen_, for God's sake…"

Austin turned around. His girlfriend was gone.

At First Central Bank in Manhattan, Sally Forth was snapping at a woman who had overdrawn her account. She was sipping a café latte, and inwardly wishing she could get a raise. She would never admit that she felt her boss was sexist, but she sure felt it anyway.

The lights of First Central Bank flickered until they went off entirely. "What the hell?" muttered Sally. _Power outage?_

"Hey what the hell is going on here?" yelped the boss. "Harrison…go check the fuse box and then call the power company for God's sake…"

Harrison, the boss's general flunky, slinked to the fuse box. He stopped dead. Standing in front of the fuse box was a redhead woman, wearing green and yellow tights and a mask that looked like lightning bolts firing off her face. The air was practically crackling with energy, and electric sparks were firing off the redhead's fingertips at random.

"Looking for something?" the girl asked.

Harrison's face went pale. He whipped out his cell phone, frantically dialing 911. However, Miranda's electrical energy had short-circuited the phone.

Sally Forth blinked up at the very odd set of characters assembled before her. There was a guy in leather pants and a lion skin (head and claws still on!) tied over his shoulders; a guy that looked like a big pile of sand someone attempted to sculpt into a human being; a brown-haired girl in an armored bird suit; and the electric redhead in the green and yellow. However, another one stepped forward to face her.

This figure was clad in a green and purple suit and an ugly goblin mask, but the long auburn hair and faint hint of bosom under the purple shirt betrayed the figure as female. She was holding several orange balls.

"Don't worry about _them_," Goblin hissed. "They're just spear carriers in _my_ powwow. Now, I'm just going to ask you to make a very _large_ withdrawal, and here's what you're going to do…"

"Oh holy shit!" Flint yelled. "Spider-girl!"

"Hunter and Nightingale, you grab the money! Sparkler, Sandman and I will hold the bug off!" shouted Noreen.

Meanwhile, the police scanner is still on. Rachelle, who had now entered the dorm, was trying to pull Austin away from the door, mostly unsuccessfully.

"No! Austin, are you _crazy_! I _told_ you that Noreen was after you again and May has a good reason for not letting you go and neither one of us want you hurt and _what the hell!_"

A pincer had grabbed the collar of Rachelle's shirt, and as gently as he could, Austin used the tentacle to fling his cousin across the room.

"Do you think I'm going to cower in the dorm room while the girl I love gets hurt?" Austin shouted.

"Course not," Rachelle muttered. She rubbed her head where it had been slammed on the wall. "But I don't think May wants the boy she loves to get hurt either."

An onslaught of pumpkin bombs whizzed over May's head. "Come on, let's not play dodge ball, Noreen," she said. May covered the bombs in so much web that they bounced off the ground, quite harmlessly. However, this wasn't the only thing May had to deal with. An electric shock from Miranda knocked Spider-girl flat, and Noreen ordered Sandman to turn into a sandstorm and suffocate her.

Sandman hesitated for one tiny second. What was going on in his mind? But May did not care at that point. She used that second to turn a fire extinguisher on Miranda while webbing up Noreen with the other hand.

"Do you think your silly little strings can hold the Girl Goblin for long?" Noreen laughed. With one thrust of her arms, she broke completely free of the webbing, ripping it to shreds with her bare hands. She hopped up on her purple glider and yelled at her…spear-carriers. "We've got the money, fools. Let's head out before the heat catches us."

May reached up and retrieved the digital camera webbed to the ceiling.

May stood in front of Mr. Jameson's desk at the Daily Bugle headquarters. However, the person sitting at that desk was not the publisher, but a frowning brunette girl slightly above her age.

"Where's Mr. Jameson?" May asked.

"I'm serving in his capacity," the girl rudely snapped. "I'm Janice Jean Jameson, his daughter. Where's the pictures?"

May showed Janice pictures of Spider-girl fighting the five supervillians.

"These are the shittiest photographs I've ever seen. I mean it. It's the crappiest crap in crap town."

"Fine," May said sweetly. "I'm sure the _New York Times_ would like to see these."

"Hey! Write out a check to May Parker for three hundred!" Janice shouted out the room.

"I'm sure the _Times_ would pay twice that…"

"Make that check for five hundred! And no more!" To May, she added, "Seriously, I can see the headline now: "The Sinister Seven: Spider-girl and Five Fellow Criminals Rob First Central Bank!"

"Spider-girl and Scarlet Spider are _not_ 'sinister'—" May began.

"They are _so_!" Janice shouted. "Besides, I need a good alliterative name. How _else_ are those New York _sheep_le supposed to _remember_ it? That's _such_ a good name. I need to copyright it. I'll get a dollar every time someone scribbles it on a piece of paper."

Janice then pulled May close to her by the shirt collar. In a conspiratorial tone, she said, "I'll give you another four hundred if you get me my own personal picture of that new menace, Scarlet Spider. Have you _seen_ him, the one with the red costume and sunglasses? He's frickin' _hot_. Dad gives me all kinds of hell and says I'm freaky for loving a guy with metal tentacles, but off the record, I'd say that getting my hands on _that_ eight-armed hunk would be more than worth having Doctor Octopus for a father in law. Don't tell me, I'll tell you." Janice looked around wildly. Her voice dipping even lower, she added, "Another _two hundred_ on top of that if you get him in his boxers—or _less_, get my drift?"

May's cheeks were beginning to match the red of her spider-suit. She grabbed at her pocket. "Uh…my cell phone's vibrating and it's a really important call and I really got to go." She raced off into the other room.

_Poor girl_, Janice thought. _She probably has a crush on Scarlet too and she's just too afraid to admit it._ She slurped her cappuccino. "I love the smell of sales in the morning! Dad, I'll make you proud yet!"


	12. Octopus Capture

Off to the reviewers' box!

To Agent Silver: Welcome back! Keep reading and I'll keep updating.

To moonjava: Hope you did.

On to the story and read and review!

Chapter 12: Octopus Capture

"So how was your day?" asked Rachelle.

"Oh just the usual mess: fighting off five supervillians at once, having bombs thrown at my head, nearly getting electrocuted to death, nearly getting suffocated by a human sandstorm, and trying to sell the pictures to your new boss who happens to be the daughter of your old boss. Then she throws my best pictures back at me and calls them crap, and then tells me she'd pay me six hundred dollars to send her a picture of _my boyfriend_ wearing nothing but his tentacle harness and boxers."

Rachelle burst out laughing. "Did you tell her?"

"Of _course not_, Rachelle," snapped May. "And risk giving away my identity as Spider-girl?"

"Look, let me tell you a little story about when we were in high school. You know that Austin found out who his father was in freshman year of high school, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he found it out from a tabloid, as did everyone else, and let me explain…"

It was 1st period, AP English. The teacher said, "All right, class, I'd like to work on your English composition skills by…"

All of a sudden, Duke Kelly, who had been mysteriously absent from the class up until now, came running into the room. He stripped off his t-shirt and jeans, revealing a set of Spider-man tights. He pulled on a Spider-man mask, struck a heroic pose, and shouted, "I must stop the evil plot of Doctor Octopus!" Then he ran full force into the wall and tried to climb it, and the attempt of course failed miserably. The he walked out of the room.

"Gotcha!" said the teacher. "That was an experiment to see how observant you are! I want you to take out paper and write what you just saw—you have twenty minutes."

Later, the teacher stood up from her desk. "I read all your papers and they were pretty accurate except for one. Brandon McCloud, would you please stand up and read yours?"

Brandon stood up and read his paper, which simply said: "Wow, is Austin's daddy in trouble now!" to hearty guffaws from the class. Austin turned red and wanted to crawl under a rock.

"English is a very rich language! It has one of the largest vocabularies in the world! _And an ill-conceived rumor is all you could write?_"

"Ha, ha, that was funny," said Rachelle, laughing as she related the story. "My god, you should have been there! Oh, and then there was one—"

Rachelle started to tell May a story of when the high school had a big Father's Day party and invited all the students to come with their fathers. Austin came to school without a father that day, of course, and the teacher (obviously new and did not read tabloids) had asked why.

Brandon McCloud had replied, with the straightest face he could manage,that Austin's father couldn't make it due to the fact that he was probably webbed up to a lamppost in New York City with a note saying, "Courtesy of your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man."

"Rachelle, that's not funny, that's mean," rebuked May. "It's not like a person can choose their parents!"

Professor Edmunds walked over to the two girls. "Are you two May Parker and Rachelle Laufey?"

"Yes," they said together.

"First I need you to go, immediately, to the front of the college. A Mr. Peter Parker is picking you up there, he says it's an emergency and your professors have already been notified. Second, I need you to tell me where Magni Smith is."

"Uh…I think she's over at Criminal Justice 1A," Rachelle said.

But why was May's father picking up Rachelle and Magni as well as May?

Earlier

Austin Smith walked to his Advanced Biology 1A class. A shadow stirred behind him and a crackling of energy filled the air.

"What? That's not right," he muttered.

Before he could do anything, someone tackled him from behind. A redhead in green and yellow tights roughly pulled his coat and shirt up and firmly planted her hand on the harness. Austin felt an electric shock up his spine. The voices that were constantly buzzing in his head were now silent.

"Sorry, Smith," said the girl. "Can't have you using those on us, can we?"

"Who the hell are you and _what do you want with me?_" Austin growled.

"All will be revealed in time," said the girl. She pulled a blindfold out of a pocket and tied it around Austin's eyes. "For now, you're coming with me."

Miranda rose into the air, dragging Austin along the way, his tentacles dangling limply at his sides.

The next thing Austin was aware of, he was being shoved into a doorway. "Sorry about that," Miranda said. "I used my electric powers to temporarily short-circuit your tentacles. I'll fix that." She slapped his harness again, making his tentacles work. She removed his blindfold.

Austin blinked. He was surrounded by two girls and two guys, all in different costumes. He recognized them from the bank-robbery pictures in the _Daily Bugle_. The only one missing was…

A voice spoke from the shadows. "The Sinister Six is complete."


	13. The Sinister Six Completed

Okay, off to the reviewers:

To moonjava: Thank you. I do too.

To Agent Silver: Nice analysis. On your question, May probably told him.

Off to the story! Will the captured Austin stay loyal to May, or will he accept Noreen's offers of power and accept his birthright?And if you think you know the answer...read on! And review!

Chapter 13: The Sinister Six Completed

The figure that spoke stepped out of the shadows.

Noreen Osborn, costumed as the Girl Goblin and maskless, paused in front of him. "My darling Austin," she whispered.

"Holy mother of Christ!" yelped the guy who looked mostly like a pile a sand someone sculpted into a human being. "What are those things out his back!"

"I told you, Flint, those are his _tentacles_," the electric redhead snapped. "His father is Doctor Octopus."

"Not by choice," Austin muttered.

Another girl, wearing a green armored bird suit, spoke next. "I told you, this is the guy from my biology class. I'm telling you, this guy's a frickin' genius. Did things with chemicals the professors never saw before…"

"Austin, my darling, my love…" Noreen whispered again.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" snapped Austin. "I am _not_ your darling, I am _not_ your love. I am just a California boy trying to be _normal_ in a city full of whack jobs like yourself."

Noreen merely shook her head. "Austin, Austin, being normal is highly overrated. When we first met on the college steps that day, I was just a normal girl, living the ennui of being a college student and heiress. Then I found a way to become more. I took that opportunity, and now look at the power I wield. All six of us have power. The six of us are so much more than normal. Why do you want to turn from your destiny?"

"I make my own destiny, Noreen," Austin replied.

"Of course, it's easy to see how you were led astray. Here you were, a science geek, no dad or any male role models to speak of at home. At fourteen, you were forced to confront the truth of your mother's one night stand, the identity of your father, and a mutilating accident that left you with immeasurable power. And you, like I, came out of your hardships that much stronger."

"But then you fell in with the wrong crowd. You fell in love with a girl whose father was a murderer, a criminal everyone thinks is a hero. The fact is, all of us—are indirectly or directly a victim of Spider-man's crimes and lies. We're all in the same boat."

"And you, Noreen, are just all kinds of crazy."

Noreen chose to ignore this. "I wanted to come and get you, to have this talk with you. Flint over there, and Philomela, and Alexei, and me—our fathers are dead because of Spider-man. Miranda—the girl who retrieved you—her father is in jail because of him. And your father is in the mental institution because of the dirty deeds of your girlfriend's father."

"Where he belongs," said Austin.

"You're with us now, yes you are," said Noreen. "My love, you're going to discover, with me, what kind of young man you truly are. You're going to take my hand and open your eyes and see that the world isn't black and white, that there are many shades of gray in between. You are going to lash out at those who oppressed you, all the Brandon McClouds, Mandy Wilsons and Brittany Gibsons of this world. Those who wronged you. Join me, Austin Smith. Together we'd be unstoppable, combining the brilliant criminal mind of Doctor Octopus and the physical strength of the Green Goblins. The world would be ours and everyone shall bow to our slightest wish!"

Then Austin said something completely unexpected. "Noreen…that's a great idea! Together, we could destroy Spider-man!"

"Yes!"

"We could take over the world!"

"Yes!"

"And all of mankind would tremble beneath our mighty fists!"

Noreen could barely contain her excitement. "Of course! So will you join us, then?"

"Hell no!"

"_What!_"

Austin stepped back. His tentacles swirled about him and began to hiss. "Just _shut up_, Noreen! I have no idea what you're talking about! You are totally nuts, totally manipulative, who would backstab, lie, cheat, connive, and do or say anything to get what you want! And come to think of it, I'm beginning to think you were that way even _before_ you stuffed yourself full of Grandpa's secret recipe. And if you think for a moment that I'm going to—"

"Your 'girlfriend' is going to die tonight," Noreen said calmly. "And then, if you still can't behave, I'll kill your little brown-haired cousin, Rachelle isn't it, the one who used a vacuum on Flint here. And then, because I don't do things half-assed, I'll kill Magni, your redhead half-sister. Your mom and aunt are over in California, but I'll find a way to get to them too. And I'll kill them, in the most _painful_ and _horrible_ and _drawn out_ way I can think of."

"Seriously, Austin Octavius Smith, I really want to respect and love you for the brilliant, strong, powerful young man you are destined to become. But there are things you have to learn and I will have to teach you the hard way. I'll let you slide with this one. After all, you've been under the influence of a very powerful and manipulative man. But right now, the six of us have a lot to do. And after we get it done, you will know exactly who you are, and I think you, like me, will like what you see. But if you continue to resist, _you will pay the price_."

"Okay, okay, please," Austin said, lowering the tentacles. "I'll do it…Just leave my family alone."

"The Sinister Six is complete, Grandpa. Green Goblin's daughter—Electro's daughter—Vulture's daughter—Sandman's son—Kraven's son—and finally, Doctor Octopus' son. Now what?"

"_The bugs are at Empire State University. Go after them—make me proud. Don't trust the Smith boy too far—he's slippery."_


	14. The Father of All Battles

Ah, isn't it great when the fan fiction website is back online and you can finally update? Now off to the reviewers!

To Agent Silver: Dagnabit, the link you were trying to send me has completely disappeared. If you email me the link, I'd love to get right on it.

On your second note: The Ultimate Six is one of the (count 'em) five Spider-man comic books I own. I relied on that for much of my knowledge of the Sinister Six villians, except for Doc Ock and Green Goblin, who I am very familiar with. So there might be a few little similarities there. And this might be because it's midnight and I'm kind of zoned out, but I'm really hard pressed to think of any meaningful similarities between Austin and Peter right now...

To Cobra Commander: Thank you for the constructive criticism. Looking at it now, I realize that my transistions _are_ a bit jerky and the pacing is really fast. It's one of my weaker points, if original characters, combination of comic and movie canon,and creative ideas are my strong points.

To LadyKayoss: There's no question on who Austin's father is...however, I can see why Mag's paternity might be a matter of confusion. Here's how I worked it out in my head:

For the record, Jake Winthrop is Magni's father. Not Otto Octavius. If my understandings of biology are correct, a pair of fraternal twins is produced when two sperm fertilize two different eggs at the same time. Jake had sex with his wife the night before Anna left for her bar association conference. Then they had the fight, and Jake told Anna he'd cheated on her. So Anna's pretty depressed when she gets to NYC, and she goes to a bar and drowns her troubles (as the country songs call it). And then, as it says in OS chapter 1, she gets so tanked she has a one night stand with our friend Otto. So two different sperm end up fertilizing two different eggs, resulting in Austin and Magni, who are chronologically twins but genetically half siblings. That's the way I've got it worked out...

So, out with the chitchat and in with the story and read and review!

Chapter 14: The Father of All Battles

Peter Parker looked in the minivan. "May, where's Austin?"

"Haven't seen him, Dad."

"Rachelle? Magni? Have you seen him?"

"Nope," they said.

"MJ," Peter told his wife, "you drive the girls to our house. I'm looking for Austin myself."

"What _is_ this emergency supposed to be, anyway?" asked Mary Jane.

"For some reason, the Girl Goblin's after Austin," Peter explained. "Noreen Osborn."

"Harry's daughter?" MJ was incredulous. "I never thought she'd take that path."

"Well, it runs in the family, doesn't it?" asked Peter. "Look after the girls."

But May was climbing out the door. "I'm going with you, Dad," she said.

"No, May. Stay here with your mom."

"Dad." May paused. "Why was it okay for you to rescue Mom from every evil supervillian who tried to hurt her, but it's not okay for me to do that for my boyfriend?"

"Your mom doesn't have powers," Peter said. "And she _certainly_ doesn't have four honking—"

"Peter." Mary Jane snapped. "_Stop_."

"Fine," Peter said heavily.

At that moment, Peter heard the screech of tires, followed by the slamming of a car door and a strange and creepy, but all too familiar _crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch! _This was followed by his son, Ben, running up to him.

"Dad! There's a guy here who wants to help you search for Austin!"

"Who?" asked Peter.

"Oh, I dunno, Dad," Ben began his usual sarcastic tone. "He's just got bad hair, a long green trench coat, sunglasses, the initials of O. O., the nickname of an underwater mollusk, and he bent my ear off the whole ride telling me that Alfred Molina did a crappy job portraying him in the movie!"

_Oh, sweet holy mother of Christ_, Peter thought. _The good doctor's the_ last _one we need in this mess._

"May I help you, Dr. Octavius?" asked Peter stiffly.

Doctor Octopus was panting. His age was finally catching up to him. "The Girl Goblin's heading towards here. She has five others with her, one of them's Austin, and she's after your blood. I thought you should know. And I thought I should help."

"And why would _you_ of all people want to help _me_?" asked Peter.

"Whether you like or accept it or not, I'm his father," replied Otto quietly.

"Yeah, Austin told me you were _real_ Father of the Year material," snapped Peter. "You never even saw him until he was fourteen and then you welded those tentacles on him. Nice absentee parenting, there, _pops._"

"Why, I ought to…" Otto growled. His tentacles began hissing madly.

"Will you _stop_, the both of you!" shouted Rachelle. "Arguing with each other isn't going to solve anything!"

One by one, they descended on the front lawn of the Empire State University. Miranda, Alexei, Philomela, Flint, a very unwilling Austin, and finally Noreen, in full costume and on her glider.

"Aww, how sweet," Noreen mocked. "I'm so sorry to interrupt your little family reunion."

Austin decided to sit down and watch. He might have been forced to come with Noreen, but he was not going to take an active role in her crimes.

Peter was busy webbing up Miranda, while his former enemy used his tentacles to short circuit Philomela's electromagnetic bird suit. Ben had his hands full with Flint, but fortunately, he'd had a lot of experience with sandstorms in Iraq. Rachelle even helped by kicking Alexei in the—unmentionables before racing back to Peter's car. Magni wasn't as lucky as Rachelle, though: her effort to throw her steaming hot café latte in Noreen's face was met with a pumpkin bomb and a very hard punch to the jaw.

Magni flopped to the ground. "Wonder how Barry Bonds would play if he took the same stuff that girl drank?" She rubbed her jaw. "God, I think she's dislocated it. That's it! I'm letting the super powered types do all the work!"

Finally, one by one, the only Sinister Six members not completely webbed up were Noreen and Austin. The rest were neatly packaged up in a nice cocoon of spider web and presented to the campus police across the parking lot, who were all too afraid to get any closer to the battle.

Noreen shouted at Austin. "Do something _useful_, you big lump, or _pay the price_!"

The next thing Peter knew, Austin had rounded on him, his tentacle drawn back, blade extended. Two more tentacles wrapped around Peter, holding him tight like two metal boa constrictors. There was a mad gleam in Austin's brown eyes, but a trace of sadness as well.

"What are you doing! Snap out of it!" Peter yelled, wheezing in Austin's chokehold.

"I can't, Mr. Parker. I have to. Noreen will kill my sister and cousin, you know she will, she's nuts…"

"No she won't!" Peter yelled. "Your sister and cousin are safe, they're under my wife's care. Noreen won't touch them."

Austin paused. "You—swear? They're safe?"

"Yes. I swear."

Austin turned from him, the tentacles unwrapping Peter as theyrounded on Noreen. The tentacle blade stabbed Noreen deep in her right shoulder.

Strangely, Noreen didn't seem fazed at all. She wiped the blood away. There was nothing at all underneath it…it was as if she'd never been stabbed at all.

"Okay, so I haven't told you about my super healing powers," Noreen hissed. "Now you've just gone and _pissed me off_!"

Noreen grabbed her glider. She advanced on Mary Jane's car, ripping the roof right off. She grabbed Rachelle and Magni by the shirts, and flew off, leaving the family with no choice but to follow.


	15. Choices Made

Now off to the reviewers!

To Crys Skywalker: You want Austin to kill Noreen? Who do you think he is...his father?

To Moonjava: Thanks.

To Agent Silver: So do I.

To LadyKayoss: The author of "How Do I Love Thee" and "Moonlight Becomes You" is calling _my_ plot devices bizarre? Sheesh!

On to the story! Read it while you still can...there's only one chapter left.

Chapter 15: Choices

_(Author's note: A reference is made in this chapter to LadyKayoss' story "How Do I Love Thee". I love this story, highly recommend it, and the reference is intended as an honor. So I hope she won't be offended. There is also some mild sexual innuendo. You have been advised.)_

Otto, Austin, Ben, and May dove into Ben's SUV. Peter and Mary Jane followed in their car.

A man in a silver Volkswagen, balancing an extra large espresso on his lap, honked at Otto as he cut him off in pursuit of Noreen. "What are you, a maniac!" he yelled.

Otto poked his head and two tentacles out the window and grinned. "Why, yes I am!" The Volkswagen driver promptly spilled his coffee all over his lap.

Meanwhile, Ben was flipping through the pages of a _Playboy_ magazine he had brought. The cover boldly proclaimed, "Our First Hot Superpowered Babes Edition!"

"'Noreen Osborn, aka the Girl Goblin,'" Ben read aloud. The picture didn't leave much to the imagination; just Noreen, and a goblin mask and a few pumpkin bombs, strategically placed. "This the one we're fighting now? The one who kidnapped your boyfriend?"

"Yep," sighed May.

"She's sure got some good muscles," Ben observed.

"Well, she _is_ capable of tearing my spider webs to shreds with her bare hands," agreed May.

"'Jennifer Walters, aka the She-Hulk,'" Ben read aloud again. "Now I'd like to look through _that_ lawyer's briefs."

"You and your vulgar puns," moaned May.

"How about this one? Speaking of your boyfriend, how is he in the bedroom department? _Armed and dangerous_, you might say?"

"Benjamin Parker, shut _up_," snapped May and Otto in unison.

"I'm surprised _Playgirl_ didn't want to see the good doctor here," commented Ben.

"No one wants to see an aging, chubby, six-armed mad scientist naked," answered May. "No offense, Doctor."

"You'll be surprised, little sister. Dad told me about this one time—and this is _really_ funny—how the _Daily Bugle_ voted him 'Most Desirable Man of New York.' It was freaking mass insanity, half the girls in the city were chasing him all over the place, some girl threw her _bra_ at him and it got _tangled up_ in his tentacle, I ought to tell Rachelle Laufey, she'd really love to hear it…" Ben began to laugh recalling the event.

Otto's expression was pained. "Don't talk about that. _Please_."

"Didn't _Playboy_ call you up for a photo shoot?" asked Ben.

"Yeah," said May. "Dad got to the phone first."

"The spoilsport. Hey Otto, you wanna look at this?"

"No, I'm driving."

"Come on, I know you can do it, with your tentacles having cameras that go into your brain and everything," cajoled Ben.

"No!"

"Doesn't anyone turn you on?" Ben grumbled.

Otto actually turned to look at him. "My wife Rosalie turned me on," he said. "She's dead now, and her death is what made me Doctor Octopus."

They were at the Brooklyn Bridge when Noreen finally paused in midair still holding her two captives. The two cars pulled over and everyone got out. No one quite knew what Noreen would do next.

"Well, Austin," Noreen shouted high above them. "I gave you a choice—whether to partner with me and make something of yourself, or to persist in your misguided allegiance to your so-called girlfriend and her father. You chose wrongly. I'm telling you now, _no one_ rejects the Girl Goblin and gets away with it. So I will offer you another choice. I am going to drop your cousin and your sister off the bridge into the water below. Your tentacles stretch to only thirty-five feet maximum and so you only have time to save one. And you're going to have to choose which one—now!" Noreen threw both the girls off the glider.

What happened next happened fast. Austin raced to the side of the bridge, but Otto, who was closer, pushed him out of the way.

_Retrieve the redhead!_

_**Father, we don't know her. Why should we care whether she drowns?**_

_She's my son's sister!_

_**Half-sister. Another man is her father.**_

_Do as I say! Now!_

The tentacles' speed made up for their hesitation. Within a few moments, Magni was being pulled up, the pincer of the lower right firmly holding her around the waist.

Meanwhile, Peter swung down, deftly diving under the bridge to catch Rachelle. He carried her up, and set her down on the ground.

Magni caught sight of her benefactor. "Ew! Get that thing off me!"

"I just saved your life," Otto growled. "One would think you'd be a bit more grateful."

Noreen, infuriated that both the girls had been saved, began to throw pumpkin bombs. Ben and May began webbing them up so that they bounced harmlessly off the ground, but there were a few they missed, and one was heading straight for Mary Jane. Rachelle pushed her out of the way, getting badly singed in the process.

Austin, meanwhile, wound his tentacles around Noreen's legs, pulling her off the glider. They were now locked in combat, in a flurry of fists and tentacles, each trying to gain the upper hand. Noreen was knocked almost flat by a tentacle, and in spite of her superhuman durability, was getting winded. But she had one more trick up her sleeve.

Noreen grabbed at Austin's tentacles, releasing shockwaves of electricity through her purple gloves. Once again, they flailed limply at his sides, short-circuited.

Noreen knew that all Austin's power lay in those arms. Without them, he was an ordinary science geek. She landed a punch, knocking Austin to the ground. Then she pounced, and began to strangle him.

Acting completely on their own now, the tentacles returned to life once more. Before Austin could react, the upper left arm popped out its blade. It lunged at the girl attacking its "brother," impaling her straight through her heart and out her back.

Noreen's eyes widened. "oh," she said, and slumped to the ground, dead.

Austin looked at his antagonist's body. "Oh my god. What have I done? I've gone and killed her."


	16. Epilogue: The End? Or the Beginning?

Chapter 16: Epilogue: The End? Or Maybe the Beginning?

Dr. Crystal Burton, Precinct Coroner, hefted the body of Noreen Osborn, heiress, multi-billionaire, and supervillianess, onto the autopsy table. She seemed heavier than her actual weight.

Crystal carefully removed the Goblin mask, and then the green and purple suit, stretched tightly over bulging muscles. When the corpse was fully unclothed, Crystal stepped back, stunned.

CSI and NYPD had both told her that Noreen had died of a massive stab wound to the chest, completely impaled. But now there was no wound, no blood, no scar, no nothing. It was as if nothing ever happened. She looked perfectly healthy. Except, of course, the girl, called the greatest menace to the city of New York since Osama bin Laden himself, was dead.

And even that assumption turned out wrong. Noreen's eyes fluttered open, to Dr. Burton's horror. Noreen then sat up on the table, looking as alive, superhumanly strong, and criminally brilliant as she ever did.

"What in hell am I doing _here_?" she snarled.

The doctor stood over Austin. "Don't worry, your—er, _condition_—will be just between you and me. You're pretty roughed up, a lot of cuts, scrapes, and bruises, but nothing serious. You do need to make sure they don't get infected, though."

"What about my friends?" asked Austin, sitting up in his hospital bed. His tentacles were lazily draped over the side, leisurely examining the multitudes of get-well presents and card he'd received.

"Well, Rachelle Laufey has several first- and second-degree burns, May Parker has a broken leg and arm, and Magni Smith's jaw is broken in several places, but with care and time, they'll be okay. We wanted to treat Otto Octavius for burns and a broken rib, but he refused to let us touch him. But that's better than what happened to that Noreen Osborn girl. Someone impaled her all the way through with a very long knife. I don't know what the hell you guys were all involved in, but it must have been a doozy."

"Yeah, a doozy," Austin agreed. But he would be always haunted by Noreen's death. Always. She seemed like a normal, nice, girl that day on the college steps. What had driven her down that path?

Shortly after the doctor's exit, a doctor of a different kind wrenched the window open.

"Father?" Austin blinked. "Why didn't you stay at the hospital?"

"Hell, your girlfriend's father put me through worse," Otto replied. But there was something wrong about the way he breathed, though. Austin suspected a collapsed lung. "They'll take care of me. Can't stay long, but I just wanted to tell you something. You didn't make my mistakes. You didn't waste your life like I did. You did something good for the world. You're stronger than I ever will be, son, and I'm very proud of you."

Austin turned his head to reply, but his father was gone.

Meanwhile, in a room at another hospital, J. Jonah Jameson was interviewing Rachelle. "So, Rachelle, what were your impressions of New York City's worst criminals? Girl Goblin, Sparkler, Sandman, Hunter, Nightingale, Spider-girl, and Scarlet Spider—"

"Whoa. Wait a minute," snapped Rachelle. "Say what you want about the first five. But you are _not_ saying anything about Scarlet. I happen to personally know him, and he's the nicest, kindest, most caring guy I will ever know, and he's _not_ a criminal and _nothing_ like his father. And you can put that right down in your little notebook right now."

"And Spider-girl—" Jameson began. "What are your impressions of that criminal menace, as someone who's just moved here from California?"

"Whoa. Now stop. I know Spider-girl too. She's a _hero_, and she saved my life. You'd do anything to sell papers, including slandering someone who doesn't deserve it at all. And I may be from California, but I think that 95 percent of the people here would agree with me!"

Jameson slunk away, looking extremely disappointed.

A green bird suit, with a ruffle of white around the neck and huge wings under the arms, sat rumpled in a trashcan in the alley. Philomela Toomes, of course, had thrown the suit away.

"A huge weight has just been lifted off my shoulders," Philomela was later to write. "I see now how the suit, and your choices, led to your death. And from meeting Austin Smith and seeing how he used his powers for a good purpose, I now know how a person is not always fated to follow the paths of their fathers. So I have made the decision not to keep the suit, and not to repeat your mistakes. I love you Daddy—from your Nightingale."

Philomela took the letter, and reached for the paper shredder on her dormitory desk. Then she broke her family's curse—hopefully forever._  
_

May arrived at Austin's hospital room, using a crutch to support her broken leg.

"Can I ask you a question? I know you'll never bring it up, so I have to."

May dropped to one knee, pulling out a plain wedding band. "Austin Smith, I love you and we're only 20 years old, but we've been through so much together and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know we're going to have huge in-law problems, but Austin…will you marry me?"

_**The end…or the beginning?**_


End file.
